Though Genndy Tartakovsky has been a force in TV animation since the mid-’90s, it’s only now that he’s finally making the jump to features with Hotel Transylvania. It’s clear that the new film has more of a traditional look than most of his shows have had, but there are some nice visual flourishes that should please fans of his previous work.

Adam Sandler voices Dracula, the proprietor of a luxury resort for monsters like Frankenstein (Kevin James), The Invisible Man (David Spade), the Mummy (Cee-Lo Green), and more. The trouble starts when a young human man (Adam Samberg) accidentally stumbles across the establishment, then meets and falls for Dracula’s daughter Mavis (Selena Gomez). While the new teaser hits many of the same beats that we saw in the first teaser last month, there’s enough new footage to be work a quick look.

This is kind of an encore trailer presentation; not long ago we showed you an international version of the first trailer for Genndy Tartakovsky‘s Hotel Transylvania, but it was quickly pulled. Now we’ve got the same trailer, but with the original English-language soundtrack. So you can hear how Adam Sandler sounds as the film’s family-friendly Dracula, for starters, and the quality is a lot better this time out, so the better monster designs and cute little visual gags come across much better. Read More »

Hotel Transylvania features the voice of Adam Sandler as Dracula, which isn’t exactly the most attractive casting idea for the classic monster. But the film is directed by Genndy Tartakovsky (Dexter’s Laboratory, Samurai Jack, Star Wars: Clone Wars) and that is very attractive — Tartakovsky has demonstrated more than once that he has the ability to mix effective characterization with cute and weird visuals.

In fact, the cute and weird visuals are very much on display in this Russian teaser trailer for the film. I love a couple of the quick looks we get at some of the denizens of the film’s strange world. The fact that Sandler (who may turn out to be a great voice actor for Dracula) is dubbed over by a Russian voice actor doesn’t hurt at this juncture. Read More »

Jimmy Kimmel has produced an epic 9-minute movie trailer parody featuring nearly every actor and actress in Hollywood. Movie: the Movie tackles every blockbuster and crowd pleaser movie and movie marketing cliches, and packs them all into one film trailer. Watch the trailer now embedded after the jump.

Kathryn Bigelow and Mark Boal‘s untitled Osama bin Laden thriller has been sparking political controversy ever since it was announced, with one of the points of contention being its release date. A few months ago, Sony set a date of October 12, 2012 for the picture’s release, irritating some who believed that it would help President Barack Obama during next year’s presidential elections by reminding voters of one of his administration’s most notable achievements.

Partisan bickering over the movie isn’t likely to die down anytime soon, but Sony has announced a schedule shift that should at least make the timing less of an issue. According to new reports, the studio has decided to push back the film, though it’s not known at this point when exactly it’ll get released, or what the motivation was behind the change. More details after the jump.

While Disney figures out what it wants to do with The Lone Ranger, would-be starTom Wilkinson has entered negotiations for the indie Little Boy. Directed by Alejandro Monteverde, the historical family drama follows a developmentally disabled 8-year-old brother (newcomer Jakob Salvati) and his teenage brother (David Henrie). When the boys’ father is sent off to fight in World War II, the boys must contend with the cruelty of their peers.

Wilkinson will be joining a cast that includes Ben Chaplin and Emily Watson — but not, apparently, previously announced star Kevin James, whose name was mysteriously omitted from the Variety story. While I’m happy to see Wilkinson board, I’ll be disappointed if James really is out. I haven’t been a huge fan of his previous roles, but I was actually looking forward to him trying something completely different with Little Boy.

Shooting on the project began earlier this week in Baja California (which is in Mexico, not California, if you’re not up on your southwestern geography. Seriously, people make that mistake all the time). [Cinema Blend]

After the jump, Hilary Duff and Kevin Zegers exit The Story of Bonnie and Clyde, and Chazz Palminteri goes gangster once more.

Sometimes there’s no way to make a casting roundup conform to any sort of sense. Such is the case here, as we’ve got info on a wild reality-based political thriller set in 1979, an animated sequel, and an indie family drama with a very unlikely cast. In other words, after the break you’ll find info on:

Monsters star Scoot McNairy joining Ben Affleck’s Argo,

Nick Frost and seven hundred other actors doing voices for the fourth theatrical Ice Age movie,

and an indie called Little Boy, which has Kevin James and Emily Watson set to star.

A couple of bits of interesting but as-yet-unconfirmed casting news have cropped up this weekend. One concerns Naturi Naughton, star of NBC’s upcoming series The Playboy Club, who may be joining forces with Hugh Jackman in The Wolverine; the other, frequent Adam Sandler collaborator Kevin James, who could be working with director Charlie Kaufman in Frank or Francis. More details on both projects after the jump.

Animation fans know Genndy Tartakovsky well. His shows like Dexter’s Laboratory, Samurai Jack and the first Star Wars: Clone Wars have long been revered but those unique talents have rarely been seen off the small screen. That’s about to change in a monstrous way.

Tartakovsky will direct Sony Pictures Animation’s 3D monster-themed family comedy Hotel Transylvania featuring the voice of Adam Sandler as Count Dracula, and a supporting voice cast including Steve Buscemi, Fran Drescher, Cee Lo Green, Kevin James, Andy Samberg, Molly Shannon and David Spade. Hotel Transylvania follows Dracula as he opens a hotel to keep his young daughter occupied with a never ending run of famous monster patrons like Frankenstein, Mummy and the Invisible Man. Things then get turned upside-down when a regular guy drops into the hotel and falls for her. It’s scheduled for release September 21, 2012. Read who each actor is playing and more about the film after the jump. Read More »

As Cannes rolls along there are a lot of new images and trailers for great, or at least interesting films. And then there’s this one. Zookeeper is the movie in which Kevin James thinks about quitting the job he loves (he’s a zookeeper, duh) so that Leslie Bibb will like him. But his animal charges can talk, as it turns out, and they teach him all about how to woo women. He probably ends up with Rosario Dawson, who has been working alongside him all this time. And in return, he takes a gorilla to TGI Fridays. This is all in the trailer, which is after the break. Read More »